The Republican Party of North Carolina The Republican Party of North Carolina

Republican Recap 3/29/19

Friday, March 29, 2019

Mueller Report and the subsequent summary from AG Barr was pretty good news for the Trump administration. Oral arguments started this week in regards to the partisan gerrymandering case in front of SCOTUS dealing with NC and Maryland. Looks like Michael Avenatti's presidential hopes have been dashed. Shame. 😏

WHAT HAPPENED

STORIES FROM THE NATION

In a surprise move this week, the DOJ stated that they would no longer defend the ACA in court based on the ruling from the Fifth Circuit. A word of caution stated in this piece: Democrats are tripping over themselves to light the health care industry on fire with single payer, turning voters off from them in the process. Republicans shouldn't be asking to pass the gasoline. Hot Air

The Recap covered a story a couple months ago about a program called Patriot Pass, the GOP's answer to the left's fundraising machine ActBlue. Now renamed WINRED, it's supposedly having some trouble getting off the ground. Some consultants don't want to give up email lists curated over years of work - which is a fair point - or are worried about other campaigns poaching their data. Check out both sides of the equation here. Yahoo! News

Remember the Bowe Bergdahl situation? Obama gave up five terrorists being housed in Gitmo in exchange for deserter Private Bergdahl. Take a wild guess where those five are now. The New York Times

Ivanka Trump has talked about a paid family leave policy for a couple years now. Democrats have pushed the policy for years as well, but in true Democrat fashion they want to force the policy on everyone instead of allowing businesses to develop their own. Republicans introduced their own plan that wouldn't cost taxpayers (or businesses) extra money. The Houston Chronicle

STORIES FROM NC

This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the gerrymandering case Common Core v. Rucho. If you'd like to read the full transcript of day one, you can do so here. If you'd rather not read 74 pages on a Friday night, you can check out this surprisingly nonpartisan recap from WRAL.

Last year, a federal judge struck down the nationwide ban on genital mutilation, citing constitutional concerns, but did say that regulation of this issue is left to the states. This week, the Senate passed legislation to ban the practice in NC and make it a hefty felony. Associated Press

Governor Cooper and NC Democrats have pushed Medicaid expansion for years. Thankfully, fiscal conservatives have stood in the way of expanding this program at the cost of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that doesn't solve the problem and wrecks jobs. Cooper claims it's revenue neutral. Here's why that's not true. The Daily Signal

Some scandal out of Duke this week as it was revealed the university (not the best basketball team in the country...that's right, I went there) falsified research data in order to obtain grants from the federal government. How much grant (read: taxpayer) money did they get for their fake data? WRAL

TRACKING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

CONGRESS

The House passed another dubious measure called the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would ensure men and women would be paid the same for the same work...except it's been law since 1963 and the gender pay gap has been thoroughly debunked. All your NC Republicans voted no, Democrats yes. In the Senate, Sen. McConnell brought up the Green New Deal for a vote. Not one Democrat voted for it and all Republicans voted against it. For a great recap of Democrats' statements on the GND, check out a hilarious video from McConnell here.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

No major votes on the floor of either chamber that hasn't been explained above, although there are some controversial bills moving through a couple House committees. As members of the GOP caucus are on both sides of the issue, the Party does not take a position. A reminder: legislation must pass both chambers before it becomes law.

Bad Bill Of The Week: Remember the ridiculous power grab from House Democrats called the "For The People Act"? Sure you do. It's likely unconstitutional and brings out the worst authoritarian tendencies from Democrats. Now, freshman Rep. Allison Dahle wants NC to support a version of that which attacks the First Amendment. It seems the worst of Democrats is in Raleigh too. H.B. 512